What our readers are saying
I keep meaning to review this recipe because I’ve made this about 100 times now and it’s incredible every time. Such a simple recipe, yet so flavorful! It’s so easy to make compared to any traditional way to make pulled pork and tastes just as good, if not better because it’s always so juicy. Also, the bbq sauce is GENIUS!!!!
Angela
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Whole30 BBQ Sauce
We love making sauces and marinades at home and find they actually taste so much better than store bought anyhow. Obviously the main benefit is that you get to control the ingredients, using only real food and ditching all of the added preservatives and fillers. If you are newer to making your own sauces, make sure you check out our post 5 Easy Homemade Marinade Recipes. We actually have a BBQ sauce recipe in that post, but created a Whole30 compliant version for this Whole30 pulled pork, sweetened with dates. You will love the thick and rich texture and flavors of this sauce.
Our Favorite Ways To Enjoy This Instant Pot Whole30 Pulled Pork
We love pulled pork and will enjoy it just about any way we can!
- Over greens and veggies with the BBQ sauce smothered all over
- Between two smashed plantains used as a bun (see this recipe) or with a gluten free bun
- Put the pulled pork into a soup or casserole
We hope you love this recipe as much as we do!
Don’t forget to leave a quick star rating and review below, we read every comment and truly appreciate your feedback. Also, be sure to browse the rest of our easy, delicious instant pot recipes to find some other favorites too!
Instant Pot Whole30 Pulled Pork With BBQ Sauce (Paleo + Whole30)
Ingredients
- 4 lb organic bone-in pork shoulder
- 1 tbsp sea salt
- 1 tbsp ground pepper
- 1 tbsp garlic powder
- 1 tbsp onion powder
- 1 tbsp chili powder
- 1 tbsp smoked paprika
- 2 cups chicken stock, (or bone broth)
For the BBQ sauce:
- 1/4 cup tomato paste
- 4-6 dates, soaked for 10-15 minutes in warm water to soften then drained
- 2 tsp garlic powder
- 2 tsp chili powder
- 1/2 cup coconut aminos, (see recipe notes)
Equipment
Instructions
- Place all of the seasonings in a small bowl and mix well to make the spice rub.
- Cut your roast into two pieces if needed to make it more manageable and fit easily. Massage the spice rub all over the meat. You may have some left over if you have a smaller cut of meat.
- Place the pork into the Instant Pot fat side up and pour the chicken stock in.
- Cook for 90 minutes on the manual setting, with the vent closed.
- Once you get the pork in the Instant Pot, make the BBQ sauce. Place all of the sauce ingredients in a blender or food processor and run continuously to combine all the ingredients until smooth. Stop to scrape sides down as needed and restart. Store in fridge until pork is done.
- Once pork is done, let the pressure release naturally (about 10-15 minutes). Don’t do a quick release.
- Remove the pork from the Instant Pot and place it on a cutting board. Shred with two forks or tongs. Pour the sauce over the pork and mix it in. Serve and enjoy!
Notes
- If you don’t have any coconut aminos on hand, you can make your own using our DIY coconut aminos substitute recipe.
Can leftover BBQ sauce be frozen?
Yes, absolutely!
I keep meaning to review this recipe because I’ve made this about 100 times now and it’s incredible every time. Such a simple recipe, yet so flavorful! It’s so easy to make compared to any traditional way to make pulled pork and tastes just as good, if not better because it’s always so juicy. Also, the bbq sauce is GENIUS!!!! It’s so quick and easy to make (seriously, I can make it in 5 minutes with an immersion blender) and it’s the best tasting paleo bbq sauce I’ve ever had. I put the bbq sauce on everything, pulled pork, chicken wings, burgers, etc. Your blog is my favorite because your recipes are so simple and fully paleo, but you never sacrifice flavor!
Thanks so much Angela for taking the time to come back and share. We really appreciate your support and just love hearing that you enjoy this recipe so much! Thanks again! 🙂
Just made this in my Ninja Foodi and it was great! I had mine marinate in the rub for 24 hours before slow cooking on low for 8-10hrs and it was so tender and flavorful. I already saved the recipe to use again.
That’s great! Glad to hear it was a hit! Thanks for coming back to leave a review. We appreciate your support. 🙂
Skin up means the fat side? I don’t see any “skin” on the pork. I will assume the fat side up. Making it now. 🙂
Yes, fat side up is what was meant. I’ve updated the recipe card to reflect this now.
Delicious pork
Just finished making this beautiful recipe! It is absolutely amazing! I couldn’t get my kids to quit eating it. I’m currently doing the whole30 and this will definitely be on rotation for the second half. So incredibly yummy!
We love hearing the whole family enjoyed it! Thanks so much for coming back to leave a rating and review! We really appreciate it!
This recipe is amazing!! The homemade bbq sauce is delicious! I can’t wait to try other recipes from this site!
Hope you enjoy the other recipes as much as this one Laura 🙂
This was AMAZING!!! Perfect in every way. Love that you don’t need to sear it first. So full of flavour and so so easy. Will definitely be making this many more times. The bbq sauce was killer too. Added a little liquid smoke because we had some in the fridge. Who needs junk filled bbq sauce when there’s this?
I agree, why buy the stuff at the store when you can easily make this? Glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Is it possible to make this recipe with a frozen pork? (I made this a few weeks ago, and it was DELISCIOUS!) Now I want to make again, but forgot to pull my pork out last night…. If it’s possible, do you know the timing for the Instant Pot? Thanks in advance.
Hi Kate, sorry for the delay in responding to this. I think it could be done from frozen but we haven’t tried it so I don’t have a time to recommend. Hopefully you were able to make it!
I too had a question about dates. I made date paste for another sauce, and I have leftover paste. How much of the date paste can I use in this BBQ sauce?
Hi Vince, I’d start with just a tsp or two of date paste and adjust to suit your taste.
Glad to find this. I used tomato sauce instead of paste (because that’s what I had on hand) and was quite pleased, as well as the family (including the ones who “don’t like dates”).
We’re so glad you and your family enjoyed this one! Thanks so much for giving it a try, and also for taking the time to come back and share! We appreciate it. 🙂
Fantastic! All your instant pot recipes are spot on.
Thank you! Glad you enjoy our recipes :).
Can we use bone in pork butt instead that what I have !?!?
Yes that should be just fine.
Hi! Trying out the recipe and reading through the comments I was just wondering is it 90 minutes on high or low in the Instant Pot?
Oops sorry! manual is high I guess. Looking forward to this recipes and sauce!
Hope you enjoyed it Daniel!
Okay I have never left a comment on a Pinterest recipe before but I just had to share how AMAZING this recipe is. My boyfriend and I are doing whole 30 for the third time and we have been searching for something savory to help our cravings and this was perfect!! We used a slow cooker instead of the IP but I’m sure it would be just as good. My boyfriend can’t stop eating it! THANK YOU so much for sharing this recipe!!
So glad you guys enjoyed the recipe! Thanks so much for swinging by to leave a comment 🙂
This was delicious! Thanks for sharing your recipe! We will definitely using it again, even when off W30. Do you have any recommendations on how long the BBQ sauce will keep in the fridge? I doubled the recipe since I had a 8lb shoulder and we have quite a bit left!
Glad you enjoyed the recipe! The sauce will keep at least a week (probably more) in the fridge.
Is there a way to make this in a crockpot?
Yes, you could just coat your roast in the seasoning mixture and put it in your crockpot with 2 cups of broth. Cook on low for 8 hours. Shred once done and make the sauce and add it to the shredded meat.
Sounds good! What is usually served with it?!
There are some serving suggestions in the post above ⬆️
This is the best pulled pork recipe! The bbq sauce is bomb. My whole family loves it. Thanks for sharing!
Hooray! So happy the whole family loved it! Thanks so much for trying our recipe and coming back to share! Appreciate it! 🙂
This pulled pork is delicious. My husband said this is the best pulled pork he’s ever had (he doesn’t follow the Paleo diet). I added garlic to the barbecue sauce and cooked this in a Crockpot on low for 8 hours. Very easy recipe!
We love hearing that! So glad it was a hit! Thanks for trying our recipe and coming back here to share! 🙂
Thank you for this fantastic recipe! My husband and I are on day 19 of Whole30 and needed to bring something compliant to our church potluck today if we wanted to eat lunch. 😉 This was it! And not a bit was leftover!! Also, I made it in the slow cooker, and it turned out beautifully. After 8 hours on low, I removed the pork and drained all but about a cup of the juices from the crockpot. I poured in the barbeque sauce and whisked together with the remaining juices. Shredded pork and returned to crockpot. YUM!!!
Amazing! So glad it was a hit and that you were easily able to make something to take, share and eat yourselves! Thanks so much coming back to share! 🙂
Best BBQ sauce recipe ever!!
Aaaw yay! We’re so glad to hear you loved it! Thanks so much for giving our recipe a try! 🙂
A quick tip for shredding the pulled pork is to use an electric hand mixer. Shreds the pork perfectly in a matter of seconds, and you can do it right in the Instant Pot!
I am making this recipe as we speak… I cannot wait to try it out 🙂 Thank you!
Love that tip! It’s a good one! Thanks for sharing! Hope you enjoy the recipe! 🙂
You guys hit it outta the park with this one! WOW! Easy AND delicious! I didn’t change a thing, and I ate it with pan-fried plantains, which made for a really tasty and filling meal. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe. This will be in my family’s Whole30 rotation from now on.
So great to hear that you enjoyed the recipe! Thanks for coming back and leaving a comment :).
Wanted to say thanks for the instruction on how long to cook up the pork in the IP. I made this recipe.
Personally I felt that the measurements for the seasoning to be over the top. 1 tbsp of ground pepper is too much black pepper. In addition, when it came to the BBQ sauce, the 1/4 cup of tomato paste was too bitter for our taste. We ended up add at least 5 more dates to make this sauce tasty.
Thanks for the feedback. Everyone has a different taste for pepper/spice and sweet so hopefully the modifications you made were to your liking to enjoy the pulled pork.
I made this tonight and it is delicious. I made about 6lbs of meat and doubles the sauce recipe, but it seems like I’d need to double the double of the recipe to really coat the meat. I didn’t miss any ingredients, but it just doesn’t seem like enough sauce. Any suggestions?
Hey there! So glad to hear you enjoyed this recipe! I think it definitely depends how saucy you like your pork, and also if you used bone in or boneless since that may impact the ending amount of meat. Anyway, if you like it super saucy and all the meat really well-coated, then yes make more sauce! We are probably more conservative on the sauce I’d guess. Thanks so much for taking the time to try our recipe and come back and share! Hope to see you again soon! 🙂
How long would I want to cook this in a crock pot? Would I need to
do anything differently?
You can follow the recipe as noted and instead of using the instant pot cook the pork on low for 8 hours. Let us know how it goes if you try it!
This recipe is gorgeous! I can’t wait to make it for family.
We hope you guys love it! Let us know how it turns out. 🙂
Does the cook time need to be adjusted for boneless?
If you do a boneless roast (4 lbs), I’d cut it in half and cook it for the same time as noted in the recipe. Let us know how it goes!
I did a 4 lb boneless for the same amount of time and it came out great.
Excellent! Thanks for sharing and glad to hear it turned out great. 🙂
I might have missed it somewhere in the recipe, but how long should the dates be soaked for?
Good catch! Soak the dates for 10-15 minutes in warm water and then drain them before placing in the food processor. We’ve updated the recipe to note this now. 🙂
I just made this recipe for dinner tonight and it is awesome!!! The sauce is especially good. I ended up putting some of the extra chicken broth in the sauce to make it a little thinner. And it was delicious!!!
Adding a little broth to thin out the sauce is a great idea. So glad you enjoyed the recipe and thanks for coming back to leave a comment!
Thanks for this amazing looking recipe. If I am doubling the recipe, do I need to double the chicken broth or will that create too much liquid since the meat gives off liquid as it cooks?
You probably don’t need to double the broth. Let us know how it turns out!
This BBQ sauce is amazing! Most other Whole30 BBQ sauces are vinegar based, which I’m not a fan of. This one is a great substitute for regular BBQ sauce, and I can’t taste the difference! I’ll definitely be making this recipe again. Thanks!!!
Morgan – We are so glad you loved the sauce! We love it too and use it a lot, especially with summer grilling coming up. Thanks for coming back and leaving a comment!
This was AMAZING and a hit. My friend said it tastes like Hawaiian Kahlua Pork. Thank you so much for sharing.
Hooray! That’s so great to hear! Thanks so much for giving it a try and coming back to share! 🙂
Perfect! Crowd pleaser for sure, I added the chipotle like Thomas suggested and made tons of extra sauce to freeze for later. Great, will make again!!
Excellent! So glad to hear it was a hit! Thanks so much for giving it a try and taking the time to come back share! 🙂
Can I substitute pork tenderloin and pork ribs to use in this recipe?
Honestly, we haven’t tried either but you’d definitely have to adjust the cooking time. I think the tenderloin is too lean of a cut of meat so I’d go with the ribs. One option you could try is to use our sauce but follow this recipe for the cooking instructions – https://nomnompaleo.com/2017/03/27/20170327instant-pot-pressure-cooker-korean-short-ribs. Let us know how it goes!
just curious – do you remove any of the fatty bits at the end?
We typically leave the pork as is – don’t be afraid of fat!
My insta pot only has a high and low setting. How would you suggest I cook this?
You should use the high pressure setting for the stated time in the recipe.
Well I just made the sauce part of this recipe. It was good but seemed to be missing that smoky flavor needed for bbq sauce. So, I added 1/8th tsp ground chipotle pepper. This made all the difference without adding too much heat. The same amount of smoked paprika could possibly be used instead. I didn’t make the meat portion of this recipe because I had smoked a 12lb Boston butt in my smoker instead.
Well, that sounds like a great addition to the sauce! We’ll have to try it next time! Thanks for giving it a try and coming back to share. 🙂
This was my second time using my Instant Pot and the second time in my life that I’ve made pulled pork. I typically can not eat pulled pork without feeling a bit nauseous, I guess it’s the fat or maybe the sweet sauce. I must say, I had no issues upon eating this and the pork was DELICIOUS! I added the chipotle pepper to the sauce. Thank you for sharing this recipe.
That’s fantastic!! So happy to hear this one was a hit for you! Thanks so much for giving it a try and taking the time to come back and share! 🙂
My instapot doesn’t have a manual setting. It has a meat and chicken setting. Instructions say a 2-5 pork shoulder could cook for 25-50 min. Not 90. How can I ensure it’s done and safe to eat
Chris – On your meat setting, you should be able to manually set the time to 90 minutes. We cooked our roast at that time and it was fully cooked.
I’m new to the instapot and cooking in general :). I thought I could only go to 60 min. It’s an Elite Platinum but I’ll check it out. I ended up setting it for 60 min then doing another 30 min separately.
For what it’s worth your recipes have helped me a ton!
Ok, I think some of the pressure cookers and different versions of the Instant Pot have different buttons/settings. Glad you were able to make it work!
Thoughts on using water rather than the broth?
You could but it just won’t have as much flavor as if you use broth.
I would love to make this today, but I have a stupid question… For the BBq sauce, is it fresh dates? Or is it okay to use dried dates?
If you use dried dates you may need to soak them in warm water longer to soften them up. If you do that you should be fine and they’ll process down in the food processor.
I made the barbecue sauce for a different recipe and it’s so good! How long will it stay good for in the fridge?
It should last about 2 weeks in the fridge. Glad you enjoyed the sauce!
Thanks for your quick response!
For the bone in shoulder when you cut it in half do you leave the bone in? I have the larger IP and was wondering if I needed to cut mine at all.
I generally leave the bone in and take it out at the end. It adds some flavor. However, if you don’t have room you can definitely take it out. Good luck!
Looks delicious!! Did you make this in a 6 quart instant pot? Thanks!!
Yes, we have the 6 quart IP! Hope you give this one a try! 🙂